1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a device and method for monitoring environmental conditions and, more particularly, to a radio frequency identification tag and system configured to measure average environmental conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is often necessary to monitor environmental conditions, especially controlled environments, to ensure they remain within defined parameters. For example, frozen foods shipped from a manufacturing plant to a distribution center or retail store must be maintained at or below a freezing temperature. This requires use of a sensor to constantly monitor the shipping environment and to activate a refrigeration unit as needed.
Oftentimes environmental conditions will change for undetected periods of time. In the example above, this can occur when a sensor or refrigeration unit operates intermittently and is not detected or is ignored by the human operator. Regardless of the cause, prolonged periods of inoperation of the refrigeration unit will cause the temperature of the food to rise to a level that can cause spoilage. The food spoilage can go undetected when the refrigeration unit resumes operation and the food returns to a frozen state.
Consequently, there is a need for reliable monitoring of environmental conditions in an unobtrusive and inexpensive manner.
The disclosed embodiments of the invention are directed to a unique implementation of a radio-frequency (RF) communication system, such as that employed in radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. As shown in FIG. 1, a basic RFID system 10 includes two components: an interrogator or reader 12, and a transponder (commonly called an RF tag) 14. The interrogator 12 and RF tag 14 include respective antennas 16, 18. In operation, the interrogator 12 transmits through its antenna 16 a radio frequency interrogation signal 20 to the antenna 18 of the RF tag 14. In response to receiving the interrogation signal 20, the RF tag 14 produces an backscatter modulated response signal 22 that is reflected back to the interrogator 12 through the tag antenna 18. This process is known as modulated backscatter.
The conventional RF tag 14 includes an amplitude modulator 24 with a switch 26, such as a MOS transistor, connected between the tag antenna 18 and ground. When the RF tag 14 is activated by the interrogation signal 20, a driver (not shown) creates a modulating signal 28 based on an information code, typically an identification code, stored in a non-volatile memory (not shown) of the RF tag 14. The modulating signal 28 is applied to a control terminal of the switch 26, which causes the switch 26 to alternately open and close. When the switch 26 is open, the tag antenna 18 reflects a portion of the interrogation signal 20 back to the interrogator 12 with one amplitude and phase as a portion 28 of the response signal 22. When the switch 26 is closed, the tag antenna reflects a second amplitude phase. In other words, the interrogation signal 20 is amplitude-modulated to produce the response signal 22 by alternately reflecting and absorbing at a different amplitude and phase the interrogation signal 20 according to the modulating signal 28, which is characteristic of the stored information code. Upon receiving the response signal 22, the interrogator 12 demodulates the response signal 22 to decode the information code represented by the response signal.
The substantial advantage of RFID systems is the non-contact, non-line-of-sight capability of the technology. The interrogator 12 emits the interrogation signal 20 with a range from one inch to one hundred feet or more, depending upon its power output and the radio frequency used. Tags can be read through a variety of parameters, such as odors, or substances such as fog, ice, paint, dirt, and other visually and environmentally challenging conditions where bar codes or other optically-read technologies would be useless. RF tags can also be read at remarkable speeds, in most cases responding in less than one hundred milliseconds.
A typical RF tag system 10 will contain a number of RF tags 14 and the interrogator 12. The three main categories of RF tags are beam-powered passive tags, battery-powered semi-passive tags, and active tags. Each operates in fundamentally different ways.
The beam-powered RF tag is often referred to as a passive device because it derives the energy needed for its operation from the interrogation signal beamed at it. The tag rectifies the field and changes the reflective characteristics of the tag itself, creating a change in reflectivity that is seen at the interrogator. A battery-powered semi-passive RFID tag operates in a similar fashion, modulating its RF cross-section in order to reflect a delta to the interrogator to develop a communication link. Here, the battery is the source of the tag's operational power. Finally, in the active RF tag, a transmitter is used to create its own radio frequency energy powered by the battery.
The range of communication for such tags varies according to the transmission power of the interrogator 12 and the RF tag 14. Battery-powered tags operating at 2,450 MHz have traditionally been limited to less than ten meters in range. However, devices with sufficient power can reach up to 200 meters in range, depending on the frequency and environmental characteristics.
Conventional continuous wave backscatter RF tag systems utilizing passive (no battery) RF tags require adequate power from the interrogation signal 20 to power the internal circuitry in the RF tag 14 used to amplitude-modulate the response signal 22 back to the interrogator 12. While this is successful for tags that are located in close proximity to an interrogator 12, for example less than three meters, this may be insufficient range for some applications, for example, which require greater than 100 meters.